Highlights of China

China is one of the largest countries in the world. Due to the rich diversity in culture to the languages to the extremes of landscape, the country retains an air of mystery. You’ll visit sites ancient and new, finishing in Shanghai – the largest and most modern in the country.

Highlights of China

Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai

China is one of the largest countries in the world. Due to the rich diversity in culture to the languages to the extremes of landscape, the country retains an air of mystery. You’ll visit sites ancient and new, finishing in Shanghai – the largest and most modern in the country.

Highlights

Your Adventure, Day by Day

Day1Depart from North America

Flight to Bejing
Sit back, relax, and enjoy your flight to Bejing.

Day2Welcome to Bejing

Arrive in Bejing
Our Tour Director will meet us at the airport. Our private coach will be waiting to transfer us to our hotel in Beijing. Founded in the 13th century and home to Ming and Qing dynasty emperors, the capital city of Beijing is one of China’s true ancient citadels. After a period of isolation, the modern city is undergoing significant reform and change, embodying all the fascinating contradictions of modern China. Old Beijing continues to survive in its temples, palaces, and old alleyways, often set among sprawling avenues, towering skyscrapers, and shopping malls.

Hotel Check in
For the next three nights, our base will be in Beijing.

Day3Tour Bejing

Tian’anmen Square
Visit Tian’anmen Square, the world’s largest public square (the size of 90 American football fields). In the center of the square stands the Monument to the People’s Heroes (Renmin Yingxiong Ji Nian Bei), a 124ft high granite obelisk erected in 1958 and engraved with scenes from famous uprisings.

The Forbidden City
Discover the Forbidden City, a massive complex of red-walled buildings and pavilions topped by a sea of glazed vermilion tile. Visit the Inner Court, where only the emperor, his family, his concubines, and the palace eunuchs were allowed; the Hall of Mental Cultivation, where emperors lived after Yongzheng moved out of the Qianqing Gong and the Nine Dragon Screen, an 11½ft high wall covered in glazed tile dragons frolicking above a frothing sea, built to protect the Qianlong emperor from prying eyes and malevolent spirits.

Dinner
Tonight we will enjoy a Peking Duck Dinner.

First Concert Performance
Your first concert performance is today.

Day4Explore Bejiing

Temple of Heaven
Visit the Temple of Heaven, an enormous park and altar directly to the south of the Forbidden City. Each winter solstice, the Ming and Qing emperors would lead a procession here to perform rites and make sacrifices designed to promote the next year’s crops and curry favor with Heaven for the general health of the empire.

Great Wall of China
Visit the Great Wall of China, one of the world’s most awesome and impressive sights. The series of stone and earthen fortifications snakes its way east to west for nearly 4,000 miles, and was built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century AD to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire.

Ming Tombs
Visit the Ming Tombs, where 13 of the 16 emperors who ruled China during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) are buried in a box canyon at the southern foot of Tianshou Shan. This is the most extensive burial complex of any Chinese dynasty and the tombs are constructed in conventional fashion, with memorial halls at the front and burial chambers to the rear.

Dinner
Tonight we will enjoy dinner in a local restaurant.

Circus Acrobats Performance
Tonight we will attend either a Martial Arts Demonstration Show or an Acrobatic Show.

Day5Travel to Nanjing

Hotel Check-In
Our hotel in Nanjing, will be our base for the next two nights.

Shaanxi, Xi’an
The modern capital of Shaanxi, Xi’an served as capital to 11 dynasties over a period of 4,000 years, including the powerful Tang Dynasty, which marked the city’s peak. With a rich history and stunning location, the Qinling Mountains to the south and the Weihe River to the north, Xi’an is one of the most popular destinations in China.

Bell Tower
Visit the Bell Tower, originally constructed in the 17th year of Emperor Hong Wu’s reign during the Ming Dynasty, and moved to its current location in the 10th year of Wanli. The architecture is grand and the art is superb. The highlight of the visit will be an Ascent of the Tower, which offers a magnificent panoramic view over the city.

Wild Goose Pagoda
Visit the Wild Goose Pagoda, built after the translation of the Buddhist scriptures, is square in shape and stands 64 meters high, with a spiral staircase leading to the top. Bodhisattva images are delicately carved on the lintels on four sides and the lower part of the pagoda features two stone tablets engraved with the Preface of Holy Teachings.

Dinner
We will dine this evening in a local restaurant.

Day6Xi’an – Terra Cotta Warriors

Visit the Qin Terracotta Army Museum
In 1974, a group of peasants digging a well made what was to become the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century when they unearthed fragments of a life-sized terracotta warrior. Excavations of three underground timber-lined vaults revealed thousands of warriors and their horses, an entire Terracotta Army designed to follow its emperor into eternity.

Shanxi History Museum
Explore the Shanxi Lìshi Bówùguan (Shanxi History Museum), which features an unrivalled collection of treasures. Exhibits take us through the dynasties chronologically, beginning with the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

Dinner
We will dine this evening in a local restaurant.

Second Concert Performance
Your concert performance is today.

Day7Fly From Xi’an To Shanghai

Hotel check in
Our base for the next three nights will be Shanghai.

Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest and most dynamic city in China. The recent explosion of economic and industrial development in this autonomous municipality has made it one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Shanghai is an exhilarating, ever-changing city that isn’t just living China’s dream, it’s setting the pace for the rest of the world.

Dinner
We will enjoy our evening meal together in a local restaurant.

Day8City Tour of Shanghai

Highlights of Shanghai
Explore the Yu Gardens and Bazaar, a pleasant and well-contained classical Chinese garden. Built between 1559 and 1577, the Yu Yuan (meaning Garden of Peace and Comfort) is a maze of Míng Dynasty pavilions, elaborate rockeries, arched bridges and goldfish ponds, all encircled by an undulating dragon wall.

Jade Buddha Temple
Visit the Jade Buddha Temple. This temple is famous for its jade Buddha statues, which are pure white and very elegant. The construction of the pavilions and halls are in the traditional style of the Song dynasty, and it has four halls: the Hall of the Heavenly Kings, the Grand Hall, the Reclining Buddha Hall, and the Jade Buddha Chamber.

Dinner
We will enjoy our evening meal together in a local restaurant.

Final Concert Performance
Your concert performance is today.

Day9Excursion to Suzhou

See Suzhou
The ancient city of Suzhou dates back to the 6th century BC and grew slowly until the creation of a large canal brought prosperity in the silk trade. During the Ming dynasty, the city flourished as a place of refinement, drawing scholars and merchants who built the elegant houses and gardens that are now open to the public.